ARC 2: Remnant Rumble
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"What the hell is up with that moon?!" Raynor exclaims loud enough for the Protoss fleet to overhear on seeing the half-shattered moon of the planet Remnant.
"Our sensors indicate an unusual energy field being generated by the local minerals. In addition to being several times more efficient than Jorium, each of the local mineral types appears to have a secondary effect linked to the mystic elements of fire, water, 'earth', air, and gravity or a combination thereof." Artanis replies with an echoing agreement from Zeratul.
"This is the world of Remnant. Civilized life is divided into 'humans' and Faunus who live more or less in harmony while divided into four kingdoms. The local minerals are collectively referred to as Dust and form the basis of energy and weapons used against both each other and the dominant life on the planet known as Grimm. If you can come up with a cover story, the Protoss can pass as Faunus and fit fairly well into the relatively high-tech kingdom of Atlas despite it having the most anti-Faunus sentiment. I will establish my Hive cluster in the region ruled by the kingdom of Vale while figuring out where in the fictional timeline this reality is." Emerald says as she directs a couple dozen Hydralisks into a Drop Sack along with half a dozen Drones. As expected, Carol follows Emerald into the Drop Sack while riding her favorite Zergling.
On arrival in the forest of Patch Island, Emerald immediately orders the Drones to mutate into a pair of Extractors, in the hopes that trace gases can be collected for use if not extract Dust from underground deposits, and four Hatcheries. Just as the Hatcheries hatch, Valerian sends out a distress call due to the ambient energy around the planet disabling the engines of his entire fleet. Luckily, Zeratul is more successful in making planetfall and establishing a base. By sunset, Emerald's Hive cluster has four Hives and all support structures including a Nydus Network she uses to deploy three dozen Raptor-Swarmlings and a squad of Zerg Splicers, modeled after Abathur, to the wreckage of Valerian's fleet.
While scouting the surrounding forest, Emerald and Carol come across a cabin where a dark-haired girl sleeping in a wagon and a blonde girl are surrounded by bipedal wolf type Grimm. Without hesitating a moment, Emerald shifts to the form of a four-year-old version of her original Goddess of Death form with 'wings' folded into a backpack shape. In only minutes, Emerald and Carol slay the entire pack of Grimm before turning to an old man carrying a strange sword who arrived as the last Grimm fell.
"Qrow Branwen. Thanks for saving my nieces, Ruby and Yang. Do you need a place to stay?" the old man says as he puts the sword in a back scabbard.
"Emerald Death and my... big sister, Christmas Carol. We happened to be in the area. We have a camp a few miles back, but a proper shelter would make a nice change." Emerald replies telepathically.
A few hours later, the group reaches Yang and Ruby's home and are greeted by a blonde man who Qrow introduces as Taiyang Xao-long. "Call me Tai. Why aren't Emerald and Carol wearing anything and just how skilled are they to have saved my girls without weapons or Aura," Tai says when the introductions are done.
"We come from a place where no one uses Aura or semblance though some have semblance like abilities that can substitute for both Aura and weapons. Would you believe Carol is actually younger than I am? Part of my abilities is to choose my appearance." Emerald says with a chuckle.
"You two can sleep with Ruby and Yang. Unfortunately, we don't have any spare bedding as we aren't used to having overnight or longer guests." Tai says as Qrow takes a sip from a hip flask and leaves.
In the morning, Emerald is woken from her meditation by Ruby's shout of "Dad! How am I supposed to wield both of these sniper-scythes? They look too heavy for Yang."
"You are not supposed to wield these young Rose." Emerald says as she uses both sniper-scythes to push off the floor and stand from her meditation pose.
"And now I wonder why reports of your battle last night didn't mention integrated weapons. This does make it more likely you know something about the mysterious Emperor Valerian Mensk and his Dominion who appeared out of nowhere broadcasting a distress call from above the altitude that even Atlesian bullheads can reach. I'm Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy in Vale," a new voice introduces itself.
"Two reasons I didn't use my dual bio-plasmid sniper-scythes. First, ruined by Valerian's distress call, I was trying to lay low and integrated weapons are not something that many of your people have even among the Faunus. Second, I needed to know I could trust Ruby and Yang not to be overly frightened of my appearance. Judging by the way Ruby has gone chibi and is hanging off my right sniper-scythe, frightening her isn't a problem." Emerald says as Taiyang shows up behind Ozpin looking flustered as he realizes his female guests are nude. Ozpin is completely calm while sipping from a mug of dark liquid.
Ten years later, Emerald and Carol have officially been adopted into the Xao-long household and Emerald is playing weapons display while watching over Ruby in a Dust shop named Dust till Dawn when a carrot top named Roman Torchwick and around two to three dozen Henchmen enter and start cleaning out the entire stock of Dust. Listening to headphones while reading a weapons magazine, Ruby doesn't notice until one of the Henchmen taps her on the shoulder and tells her to put her hands in the air. "Are you robbing me?" Ruby queries in reply to the Henchman's order. Before the Henchman can reply, he is sent flying out the display window by a sniper-scythe hitting his chest with bone shattering force.
Instead of finishing the robbery, Torchwick stupidly sends the remaining Henchmen to capture or more likely kill Ruby who followed the first Henchman out the window to make sure he didn't get away. Despite the danger presented by the mix of guns and swords the Henchmen wield, Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose, her custom-built sniper-scythe, and nearly mops the floor with the Henchmen until Emerald joins the fight and quickly puts down all of the Henchmen permanently. Trying to run, Torchwick creates a smoke cloud by shooting a fire Dust crystal only to be intercepted on the roof of a nearby building by Emerald who had used the Hive Mind link to an orbiting Overlord to track him. As Ruby catches up, a bullhead appears to rescue Torchwick just as the master criminal is beheaded by an efficient strike from Emerald's sniper-scythes.
Just as a feminine figure starts throwing fire-based attacks out the open bay of the bullhead, Emerald counters with a pair of bio-plasmid projectiles from her sniper-scythe limbs, one hitting the cockpit and the other hitting the mystery figure directly. To avoid excessive collateral damage, the Goddess of Death uses her psionics to slam the wreckage into an empty section of the street below... perhaps a little harder than strictly necessary. "I suppose you want to escort us to the local precinct?" Emerald asks a newly arrived grey-haired Huntress in a with outfit just as a blob of energy shoots from the wreckage of the bullhead into the Goddess of Death.
The Next Day...
Just after Emerald threatens Yang with having to drive to Beacon for causing embarrassment to her younger sister, a news bulletin grabs the blonde sister's attention. The newscaster announces the death of notorious criminal Roman Torchwick in a failed robbery the previous night. "Please tell me this has nothing to do with the two of you entering Beacon early," Yang says to Ruby and Emerald. Both Ruby and Emerald stay silent as the newscast moves on to White Fang disrupting a peaceful Faunus civil rights protest. A message from a familiar grey-haired Huntress cuts the newscast short before the three sisters ponder the view of Vale and Patch Island from the window of the bullhead just before a blonde boy passes by with obvious motion sickness.
A short time later, the bullhead reaches the docks at Beacon and 'Vomit Boy' rushes to the nearest trashcan while Ruby geeks out over all the weapons their fellow students are carrying. Unfortunately, while Emerald watches, Yang decides to abandon her sisters after calming Ruby down a little and does so in a way that causes Ruby to collapse into a rack of suitcases that a snobby girl dressed in white reveals to carry large quantities of Dust. The snob is no better as she recklessly shakes a vial of the Dust in Ruby's face while lecturing her on how much Ruby supposedly doesn't belong. For a little amusement and revenge, just as Ruby sneezes from the Dust tickling her nose, Emerald uses her psionics to gather all of the volatile Dust around the snob who never gave Ruby a chance to explain anything. The result is a nice self-contained explosion of fire, ice and lightning.
"Nope, and I personally don't care, Princess," Emerald replies to the snobby girl when queried if she knows who the girl is.
"Heiress actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, largest distributor of energy propellant in the world," a girl in mostly black clothing with purple trim comments as she walks up holding a stray vial of Dust with a snowflake symbol on it.
"Finally, some recognition," Weiss says a little too soon.
"The same company known for its controversial Faunus labor practices and questionable business partners," the dark dressed girl with an oddly twitching bow finishes. Grabbing the Dust vial, Weiss gives a huff of displeasure and storms off. Before Ruby or Emerald can thank her, the other girl silently leaves as well. The rest of the day goes fairly quickly with meeting Vomit Boy and learning his name is Jaune Arc, orientation, and meeting the goth girl again, learning her name is Blake Belladonna and she enjoys reading books.
The next morning everyone leaves the Hall where they had more or less had a slumber party without the party and most collect their armor and weapons from their assigned rocket lockers. Since all of her weapons and armor are natural rather than manufactured, Emerald wanders around a little noticing a meeting between Jaune, Weiss and a famous girl from Mistral named Pyra Nickos. The only other students of note are an oriental looking boy named Ren and a bubbly orange haired girl named Nora who appear to be longtime friends.
Gathering at the cliffs, the first-year students stand on metal plates that only Jaune can't figure out the purpose of as Ozpin tells them about their initiation and team formation. As a result, Emerald can tell even with her eyes closed that Jaune will have problems landing in Emerald Forest and finding a good partner. Keeping her eyes closed, the nude Huntress in training uses bio-plasmid discharges to steer her fall into Jaune and throw him at Pyra so the so-called Invincible Girl can help out the clueless Arc who doesn't even seem to have unlocked his aura or have the skill to justify a locked aura. Landing safely away from the other students, Emerald uses her psionics to track the others and notes only eight have any real challenge for the initiation.
Jaune and Pyra get lost and stumble across a Deathstalker that chases them to the relics they need to grab. Ren encounters a King Taijitsu before meeting up with Nora who decides to get a piggyback from an Ursa Major they encounter on the way to the relics. Yang gets yangery at a group of Ursa Minors that damage her hair and partners with Blake after the goth kills the last Ursa managing to get to the relics first among the eight. Last but not least, Ruby partners with Weiss in almost burning down the forest while fighting a pack of Beowulfs before catching a ride to the relics on the back of a Nevermore. "The gangs all here. Now we can all die together," Yang comments as the Nevermore teams with the Deathstalker to attack the eight students. Ruby tries to play hero only to fall flat on her face when the Deathstalker is shredded by the forgotten ninth member of the gang arriving behind a barrage of bio-plasmid discharges. The situation looks grim indeed however when the fallen Deathstalker and the quickly headless Nevermore are replaced by a flock of Griffins and an unlikely pack of Goliaths.
AN: Thanks for reading and please review.